Reply To: Favorite Small Area Games

[Tom Molloy]

With my 9 year olds skill group I am stressing good habits in playing the game. At my last practice they played a 2/3 ice game of ringuette. The nets were on the goal line and the far blue line. And the players carry heir sticks upside down so they can put the but end inside the ring.

The rule in ringuette is that you must pass the puck from zone to zone and can't carry it.

We used the blue and red line as the lines they had to pass the ring over (you could do this with a puck also). The benefit of this rule modification is that teammates have to get open for a pass and the player with the ring has to have his head up and make the play.

It is necessary to skate hard to open ice when they get the ring and the players were having trouble with this and want to stand still to pass and skate to carry. Ringuette made this bad habit more pronounced because the defenders were on the ring carrier quickly unless they skated forward or did an escape move.

I highly recommend using ringuette to work on good playing habits. Canada, USA and Finland are the main places that play ringuette. You can google to order a few rings. If you can't get rings use the same rule but with a puck or ball.

'The Game is the Greatest Coach'
'Enjoy the Game'